No. 13 West Virginia Hosts Iowa State Wednesday Night
Last season, West Virginia took a 25-point beating early in the Big 12 Conference schedule but with a revamped roster, the Mountaineers got their redemption in a 90-75 win in the regular season finale.
After 23 wins last year, Iowa State’s season is hanging in the balance sitting at 9-12 and 2-6 in the Big 12, and in the last 10 games, the Cyclones are just 2-8.
The Cyclone defense has played a major role in their sub .500 record. During conference play, they rank last in the Big 12 in three categories; scoring (73.6), field goal percentage (47.8%) and three-point percentage (40.2%).
However, they have two of the top six scorers in the conference. Sophomore guards Tyrese Haliburton (6-5, 175) ranking fifth (15.7 ppg) and Rasir Bolton (G 6-3 183) at sixth (15.2 ppg), combining for 41% of the Cyclones 75.0 points per game.
Haliburton also leads the team in rebounds (6.0), assists, (6.8), and steals (2.5) whiles shooting 50% from the field and 40.0% from behind the arc.
After averaging 3.6 points in the first five Big 12 games, Solomon Young (Jr. F 6-9, 242) came off the bench for 27 points and nine rebounds in a win over Oklahoma State before going for 10 and nine on the road at No. 16 Auburn and 13 points and six rebounds in the loss to Texas on Saturday.
The Mountaineers have had their offensive struggles during the season but have played well inside the WVU Coliseum. Although the numbers aren’t staggering, West Virginia is shooting 10.1% better at home (48.6%) than on the road (38.5%) during Big 12 play.
In fact, since the game against Rhode Island on December 1 where effort was questioned after narrowly escaping with an 86-81 win, West Virginia’s average margin of victory, at home, has been by 23 points.
Derek Culver (So. F 6-10, 255) has put his first back-to-back double-figure games after recording his fifth double-double of the season with 19 points and 14 rebounds in the win over Kansas State on Saturday.
Team leading scorer, freshman forward Oscar Tshiebwe (11.2), only produced 12 points and 11 rebounds the last two games and failed to reach double figures in consecutive games for the first time all season.
Despite only scoring a point against Kansas State, Jermaine Haley (Sr. G 6-7, 215) has reemerged as one of the team scorers averaging 12.3 points in the previous three games prior to Kansas State and Deuce McBride (Fr. G 6-2, 196) has been steady the last 12 games averaging 12.8 points during that span
Energy and effort have been the fuel to West Virginia arguably being the best defense in college basketball, ranking third in the country in field goal defense (36.6%) and second in three-point percentage (26.8%).
Nonetheless, West Virginia can’t be complacent. Having not lost inside the WVU Coliseum this season, the Mountaineers can’t become too comfortable and get caught looking ahead to Saturday’s road matchup against Oklahoma in a chance to end a three-game road losing streak.
Two of the four West Virginia losses this season have come from lack of preparation/effort. The most recent loss (Texas Tech) the Mountaineers didn’t match the Red Raiders energy.
West Virginia needs to be careful, because not only does Iowa State need a win but they haven’t won in Morgantown since 2015. As Huggins always says, “You have to show up and play every night in the Big 12.”
